Sudan: Arrest of the President of the Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SHRM)

(7 December 2014) Paris-Geneva-Kampala. The Sudanese authorities must release immediately Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint programme, and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) said today. The health and physical integrity of the human rights defender must be guaranteed by those who detain him.

On the evening of December 6, 2014, the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, a renowned human rights activist, President of the Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SHRM) from his house in Khartoum.

The Observatory and ACJPS strongly denounce the arbitrary arrest and detention of Dr. Medani and considers it as a reprisal to sanction his legitimate human rights activities. On December 3, 2014 Dr. Medani signed the “Sudan Call” on behalf of civil society organisations. The “Sudan Call” is a Declaration on the “Establishment of a State of Citizenship and Democracy”, under which co-signatories committed to work towards the end of the conflicts raging in different regions of Sudan and towards legal, institutional and economic reforms. The Declaration, which commits signatories to end wars and conflicts as a priority, was co-signed in Addis Ababa by representatives from political and armed opposition parties, including the National Umma Party, the National Consensus Forces and the Sudan Revolutionary Front. Dr. Medani co-signed the Sudan Call on behalf of the Civil Society Initiative.

Dr Medani was arrested shortly after he returned from Addis Ababa. There are serious concerns for the safety of Dr. Medani who is 76 years of age and suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes for which he has prescribed medication. According to the information received, the NISS refused to allow him to take his medications with him when he was arrested.

The Observatory and ACJPS more generally urge the Sudanese authorities to put an end to all acts of harassment and intimidation against human rights defenders and to comply with the relevant international norms and standards, in particular the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, and regional and international human rights instruments ratified by Sudan.

For more information, please contact:

FIDH: Arthur Manet/Audrey Couprie: +33 1 43 55 25 18

OMCT: Miguel Marti­n Zumalacarregui: +41 22 809 49 24

ACJPS: Mohamed Badawi, Human Rights Monitoring Programme Coordinator, info@acjps.org, +256 783 693 689

This post is also available in: Arabic